Run All Night

Liam Neeson has yet more men to find and kill in this serviceable actioner

The Liam Neeson actioner has become a sub-genre of its own, invariably delivering exactly what it says on the tin, which is 'Liam Kicks Ass'. He still looks the part, too, so we are content to watch him keep doing what he’s doing. Run All Night is third off the assembly line from Neeson and proficient Spanish director Jaume Collet-Serra (following Unknown and Non-Stop), and it’s as solid and watchable as its star.

Neeson is Jimmy Conlon, a lonely alcoholic and sad jester at the Brooklyn court of gangster Shawn Maguire (Ed Harris). Conlon is haunted by the memory of the many men he killed when he was Maguire’s ruthless enforcer 'Jimmy the Gravedigger', and is broken by regret for abandoning his family. Redemption is clearly called for, and the sins of the fathers are about to be visited on their sons, through the course of one hectically bloody night.

The back-story is so much rhubarb, given that washed-up drunk Jimmy sobers up, takes perfect aim and gets athletic instantly, as soon as he gets word that Maguire has put a hit out on his estranged son Michael (RoboCop's Joel Kinnaman). Michael is a decent working man devoted to his family and hates his father. Unluckily, he accidentally falls fatally afoul of Maguire’s spoiled, nasty, hot-headed son and heir Danny (Boyd Holbrook). Thus with mobsters, bent cops and a cool professional contract killer (Common) all snapping at his heels, Michael has to put his resentments on hold from dusk till dawn, while Dad keeps saving his bacon through an exhaustive series of action-packed brouhahas.

Neeson and Kinnaman are fine together and, in addition to the always good value Harris, there are turns from Vincent D’Onofrio as the dogged detective Jimmy foiled for decades, and Nick Nolte (looking 200-years-old) as Jimmy’s brother. Run All Night is certainly no classic, but will prove quite satisfactory for Neeson completists.

General release from Fri 13 Mar.

Run All Night | Official Trailer

Jimmy (Neeson), a lonely alcoholic and associate of gangster Shawn Maguire (Harris), is broken by regret for his sins, but when Maguire puts out a hit on Jimmy's son Michael (Kinnaman), we know what'll happen: Liam Kicks Ass. Solid, watchable actioner with fine work from Neeson and Kinnaman; no classic but satisfactory.